The counties
Sir: Thamesdown and Humberside may sound, in the words of Sir John Betjeman (6 October), like 'posh hotels'. But better that than a name which evokes a decrepit railway station or an amateur football league. I refer to that Scottish region called Central, Which subsumes the old county of Stirling and parts of Perthshire, It stems, presum,-,IY, from the inventive minds of some nigh-powered Caledonian committee. The guilty men should be found and made to explain themselves. Ian Jack 77 Richmond Avenue. London Ni Sir: I have not previously been a reader.of the Spectator and therefore missed the original article on the counties by Christopher Booker, but the present issue caught my attention and I would simply like to add my voice to the correspondence you have had. When the new local government regions were created earlier in this decade, I was not unhappy at the prospect. After all, it was supposed to result in a better organised administration for us. Who could object?
Some time later I was looking at a recently published atlas in my local library. They had made a terrible error. Instead of the familiar East Riding of Yorkshire where I was born, there was a strange name running awkwardly across my home county and over the river into part of Lincolnshire.
Surely this was the newly drawn-up region for local government purposes. Why was it shown here? Then the horrible truth descended on me.
It had been intended all along asan actual change in the county itself. No doubt official bodies would be following the government line by now. It would already be too late for a protest — 'Sorry, it's been carried through now and think of the expense to change it back.'
Perhaps it was naive to think the local government changes could not possibly affect the county name. Perhaps we should have taken more interest at the time.
Whether local government is now better or worse may be debated, but the important issue for me is my identity. I'm not a stereotype Yorkshireman. I don't hate all southerners or Lancastrians or gallop round a show-jumping arena waving two fingers at the establishment, but I am a Yorkshireman. It's what I am. If I only visit Yorkshire periodically and never live there again, it is still the source of my identity and where my family live. In a decade when the Scots have been asked whether they would like to be given more independence, perhaps Yorkshire people could be asked whether they would like to remain in existence!
J.A. Sherwood 24c Albert Bridge Road, London SW11 Sir: It is with regret that I read your extensive coverage given to the case for the old counties. In my two years of subscribing to and enjoying the Spectator I cannot recall such coverage being given to such a peripheral topic. Surely, on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference the column space could have been more profitably used — could not Mrs Thatcher expect something more relevant from the foremost, intelligent pro-Conservative journal? Yes, reorganisation was contentious but most people are concerned about the mortgage rate, industrial problems this winter and their children's education. The counties, by comparison, fade into insignificance.
Michael Brown Oriel College, Oxford Sir: In saying that Welsh sentiments regarding the loss of their old counties seem to have been allayed by the use of old Welsh names for the new counties, did Christopher Booker take the size of the Spectator's Welsh readership into account? Few people around here have ever heard of it, let alone read it, and this may account for any scarcity of letters from the Principality.
I cannot, of course, speak for people in the rest of Wales, but most Pembrokeshire people are strongly anti-Dyfed, and would welcome the restoration of their old county with relief and gladness. Dyfed is a bureaucratic monstrosity. Even a majority of its councillors agrees that it is far too big, and public opinion polls in Cardigan and Carmarthen coUnties have shown a strong desire to revert to the old county boundaries. These areas, incidentally, are strongly Welsh-speaking, but the appeal of old Welsh names is clearly less strong than a wish for real local government, efficiency and economy. Maybe they would like Cardiganshire to be known as Sir Ceredigion, and Carmarthenshire as Sir Caerfyrddin, but they have not been attracted to Dyfed.
If reorganisation had resulted in increased efficiency and lower costs, as promised, we would doubtless have grinned and borne it, but all we have got is confusion, delay, inefficiency, stupid anomalies and vastly increased costs. Ratepayers, who pay the piper, have less say and influence than ever before over the tunes that are played.
I and many others steadfastly refuse to use the name 'Dyfed' in our addresses, despite Post Office threats that our mail may be delayed. Preseli District Council, to its credit, includes 'Pembrokeshire' in its letter headings. But these are mere sentimental gestures. We want Pembrokeshire back in reality; split into two districts, as at present, if the total restoration of the pre-1972 position is impractical, but restabI ished as an independent county within its old boundaries.
I wish you luck in your campaign to right some of the wrongs of English reorganisation, but please do not forget Wales.
B.E. Thomas Rushacre House, Narberth, • Pem brokeshi re.
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